Writer, Cinephile

Hannibal

Synopsis: After Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) is discovered in Florence, he later re-appears in the US, trying to track down Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) and avoid the attentions of one of his vengeful ex-victims (Gary Oldman).

Review: Hannibal is a flawed sequel to The Silence of the Lambs and its failings are in toying with nearly every successful element of its predecessor’s special ingredients. Where The Silence of the Lambs was ostensibly a police procedural, serial-killer piece with interesting character study subplots, Hannibal takes the opposite stance and propels its slight but intriguing sociopathic ‘chorus’ – Hannibal Lecter – to the forefront. The error is that Lecter’s pathology works best as metaphor for the pervading dread surrounding various serial-killer crises and Clarice Starling’s own frayed psychology. By gorging on the titillating, grand guignol notion of Lecter as ‘debonair’ cannibal, and in relegating the forensic narrative sway of Lambs, Scott creates not only an inert drama, but makes a substantially less disturbing movie, though more gory and graphic. (February 2006)